Architects: Vikings stadium is a trendsetting icon with a dark side

Guesses about the inspiration for U.S. Bank Stadium’s design include a spaceship, an ice shard, or a Viking longboat. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Big and dark with angles that thrust skyward like a prow or a chin, the new U.S. Bank Stadium is a building that generates fascination and perhaps a little intimidation.

Those who have seen it have guessed at the inspiration for the design. Could it have been a spaceship, an ice shard, or perhaps a Viking longboat?

Or maybe a Darth Vader helmet, because who doesn’t love to be a little bit bad?

Described as architecturally groundbreaking by its designers and by some local architects not attached to the project, the new $1.13 billion home of the Minnesota Vikings football team has been a conversation starter since construction started in late 2013. Now complete, the downtown Minneapolis stadium might soon be one of Minnesota’s most recognizable buildings.

Linda McCracken-Hunt, a principal at JLG Architects in Minneapolis, has heard the buzz – and the Darth Vader and spaceship comments. McCracken-Hunt was formerly CEO of Studio Five Architects, the architect of record for the exterior of the U.S. Bank Stadium, which was later purchased by JLG. The firm worked in association with the stadium’s lead architect, Dallas-based HKS Architects.

That design has sparked some criticism, as it includes vast expanses of dark gray, zinc metal panels that are darker than conceptual drawings showed when the stadium design was pitched to its owner, the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority.

McCracken-Hunt, who was on the University of Minnesota staff as a senior project manager when the school built the wildly modern Weisman Art Museum, said the stadium’s cutting edge design is getting people talking. That alone is an achievement for any building, particularly in a city known for progressive buildings like the Weisman and the Guthrie Theater.

Covering more than 1.75 million square feet, the stadium is “just a very large building in the context of the city,” said Tim Dufault of Cuningham Group. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

“What I think is going to be its best contribution is getting everyday people to be aware of the influence of design,” McCracken-Hunt said. “It brings out an emotional reaction and gets people talking about design.”

Covering an area about twice that of its predecessor on the site – the Metrodome — and standing 270 feet high at its peak, U.S. Bank Stadium now hunkers massively in the Minneapolis skyline.

Tim Dufault, a principal of the Minneapolis-based architecture firm Cuningham Group, watched every stage of the building’s construction from his office window.

While his firm had no part in the design, Dufault has formed a detailed opinion about it. He said the stadium has accomplished things the Metrodome did not. It sparked a flurry of redevelopment and construction in Downtown East, including public spaces and parkland. It is fan-friendly, from pedestrian improvements outside to its interior openness and innovative placement of luxury suites at field level.

On top of all that, it more or less fits its location, even though it covers more than 1.75 million square feet.

“That said, it’s just a very large building in the context of the city,” Dufault said.

The scale and presence of the stadium were two things addressed early on by a committee that worked with the MSFA to represent the public on design issues. Tom Meyer, a principal at Minneapolis-based architecture firm MSR, was one of two architects on that committee.

Meyer’s feelings about the stadium are largely positive. He said he is impressed how HKS architects sculpted a contemporary form out of a huge project. He said the building is distinctive enough to get attention in the architectural press, both for its exterior form and its light, spacious interior. That interior features the largest pivoting glass doors in the world and the largest span of ETFE plastic roof panels in the United States, according to HKS.

“I think the interior is going to be really well-received,” Meyer said.

His only criticism of the stadium is the darkness of its exterior. Portrayed in pre-construction illustrations as being highly transparent with light- to medium-gray siding panels, the finished stadium takes on a darker reflective cast in its glass sections and appears nearly black where the zinc panels are installed.

The darkness and the size of the building harken to another Minneapolis landmark that took some getting used to — the IDS Center. Meyer said that when it opened in 1973, Minnesota’s tallest building was not loved by everyone who saw it. But it went on to become one of the most iconic buildings in the state.

The prow is a prominent architectural feature of the new stadium. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

The U.S. Bank Stadium, Meyer said, will also grow on locals who travel to it, live around it, work near it and attend events inside it.

“It has enough engagement on all sides to make itself part of the community,” he said.

HKS architects have addressed the darkness issue. Bryan Trubey, HKS’ executive vice president of sports and entertainment, said recently that a few people “have noticed a little bit of difference” between renderings and how the finished stadium looks. He said HKS architects knew the panels would show up to the job site darker than portrayed on the conceptual images.

With time and weather, the panels will age to “kind of a dark, gray, silvery luster,” Trubey said.

HKS principal and senior vice president John Hutchings said the darkness has started to influence nearby construction projects. Dark panels on the Edition Apartments on the nearby Commons park echo the color on the stadium, he said.

Whatever the stadium color ends up being, Minneapolis, Minnesota and the NFL are likely to live with it for a long time. The stadium has a 50-year-design life based on the expected duty life of its technology infrastructure and smaller components, but its concrete and steel elements could have an “unlimited life,” according to Tom Scarangello, CEO of the stadium’s structural engineering firm, Thornton Tomasetti of New York.

With time and weather, the stadium’s panels will age to “kind of a dark, gray, silvery luster,” an HKS architect said. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Scarangello, whose firm also worked on the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, said he believes the appeal of U.S. Bank Stadium will last. Its form and interior function have a five- to 10-year head start on other designs in the NFL, he said. It breaks out of the mold for contemporary NFL stadiums that blend climate control and exposure to nature through the use of retractable roofs.

The Vikings stadium’s 240,000-square-foot translucent ETFE plastic roof section, designed to bring natural light inside, may see wider use now that it is part a project that will get regular television coverage.

“I’d say it is a trendsetter, not a trend follower,” Scarangello said.

Hutchings, who attended the ribbon cutting for the stadium last week, said football fans and other stadium users will find more design finesse inside the stadium when they start to visit. Giant video screens and a Wi-Fi system designed to handle smartphones in the hands of everyone at an event will keep people connected both to events and to the outside world.

The stadium may also become a Minnesota icon. People tuning in for Vikings games around the country and the world will get to know the team’s stadium on sight, Hutchings said.

“For a billion dollars, you should have something from the blimp shot that’s instantaneously recognizable as being from Minnesota,” he said.

The stadium’s first wide exposure to an NFL game day audience comes on Aug. 28, when the Vikings play the San Diego Chargers in a preseason game.